How a B.C. First World War hero went from the battlefield to a mental institution, only to become the PM's janitor (with video)

Corporal Filip Konowal was a Ukrainian-Canadian who served with New Westminster’s 47th Infantry Battalion during the First World War, winning the Victoria Cross by killing 16 German soldiers in a fierce encounter in August 1917.Photo by

A photograph from the First World War shows Corporal Filip Konowal standing at attention with a look that could kill.

A slight individual measuring just 5-foot-6, he was plainly a man who meant business.

Konowal won the Victoria Cross during the First World War while serving with New Westminster’s 47th Infantry Battalion.

In a frenzy of action marked by bloody thrusts with a bayonet, he dispatched 16 German soldiers.

This week, which marked the 100th anniversary of Canada’s entry into the “war to end all wars" (Aug. 4), seemed a good time to take a close look at his unique life, which was touched by tragedy as well as triumph.

He was praised by King George V for one of the most heroic feats in the history of the empire, but also faced a life of adversity after killing a man in a bar fight, an incident some attribute to his war wounds.

Ultimately, Konowal regained his favoured status as a war hero and was given a job for life by no less than Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.

Fiction writers don’t come up with stuff that good.

'MOST INCREDIBLE CANADIAN STORY'

Lubomyr Luciuk, a political geography professor at Kingston’s Royal Military College and Konowal aficionado, says his life was remarkable.

“This is the most incredible Canadian story I’ve ever seen,” says Luciuk.

“He volunteered, served with distinction, spent time in a mental institution and eventually came out as janitor to the prime minister,” he says.

Konowal, a Ukrainian, ended up serving with the New Westminster battalion by accident.

He enlisted in Ottawa but was assigned to the 47th while in France, something which happened frequently in those days.

The Royal Westminster Regiment, as it is called today, is proud to call him their own. A plaque is dedicated to him at the regimental museum in the 500 block of Queens Avenue.

“Corporal Konowal had qualities that soldiers of today aspire to. His leadership was outstanding. He cared for his soldiers and never quit,” says quartermaster Sgt. Robert Harley.

The scene was the Western Front in France at a place called Hill 70, which is visible from the site of another famous Canadian battle, Vimy Ridge. It was August of 1917.

Men were getting killed by the thousands in choppy terrain that featured savage encounters in basement cellars.

“It was a really tough fight,” says Luciuk.

TRAINED AS A BAYONET INSTRUCTOR

Born in Ukraine, Konowal came to Canada in 1913.

“It was unique that he was Ukrainian. In 1914, if you were a real Canadian, you were a Brit,” says Jim Kempling, a retired army colonel and PhD history student at the University of Victoria.

Konowal had a deadly advantage because he had trained as a bayonet instructor for five years in Russia’s Czarist Army.

“The bayonet was up-close and personal. He did most of his damage with it,” says Luciuk.

He ran through three Germans in one melee and killed seven others in a surprise fight in a crater.

Next, he attacked a machine gun, killed the crew and brought the gun back to Canadian lines.

The following day he attacked another machine gun, killed three and destroyed the gun. His fellow soldiers were amazed by the way he took it all upon himself.

'I SAID THE HELL WITH IT'

Konowal explained the impetus for his surprise charge some years later:

“I was so fed up standing in the trench with water to my waist, that I said the hell with it and started after the German army. My captain tried to shoot [me] because he figured I was deserting.”

Kempling says Konowal’s behaviour defies simple explanation.

“The line between heroism and madness is pretty fine sometimes,” he says.

A German sniper’s bullet to the head effectively ended Konowal’s shooting war a few days later.

“Half his face was shot off,” says Luciuk.

He was disfigured, bore a scar for life and suffered headaches.

Two months later he was presented with a Victoria Cross by King George V in London while recovering from his wounds.

“Your exploit is one of the most daring and heroic in the history of my army,” the monarch told him.

A TRAGIC PATH

A disturbing incident after the war added a dimension to Konowal’s legacy which may have exposed his failings but added to his appeal as a human being, complete with flaws.

On July 19, 1919, he led the country’s first-ever Peace Parade through Ottawa’s streets.

The following night, in an incident which began at a restaurant in Hull, he killed William Artich, an Austrian and small-time bootlegger who had savagely beat his war buddy, Leonti Diedek.

According to Luciuk, Konowal went to his friend’s rescue.

“He followed Artich back to his house, grabbed a butcher knife and stabbed him through the heart,” Luciuk says.

Questioned by police, Konowal said he acted in self-defence: “I’ve killed 52 of them, that makes the 53rd.”

Kevin Berry, a veteran of Canada’s war in Afghanistan, says instinct took over.

“He’s not just a trained killer, he’s an experienced killer. He’s not going to blink,” Berry says.

“Austrians were the enemy. He’s going to have a fairly strong psychological reaction he might not be in control of. Two years after the war, everything was very raw,” says Berry.

HAD FLASHBACKS OF HILL 70

Kempling says Konowal was likely suffering from what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but was then called shell shock.

“Victoria Cross winners suffered mental trauma just as much as ordinary soldiers,” he says.

Luciuk says there were public relations overtones to the murder charge.

“Was it self-defence or aggravated assault? I don’t know. This man was a Victoria Cross winner. What do you do?” he says.

Konowal’s friends in the military provided an experienced lawyer while veterans rallied to his cause, raising $3,000. The legal proceedings lasted two years.

A doctor found he had flashbacks to the battles and often believed he was defending his men at Hill 70.

He was advised to offer a plea of insanity because his head wound rendered him not responsible for his actions.

A jury found him not guilty.

He was confined in a Montreal hospital for the insane for the next seven years, but through hard work recovered his health to a large degree.

Released in 1928, he was on his own. No programs existed to assist his reintegration into society.

“He was a homeless person, released just in time for the Great Depression,” says Luciuk.

A JANITOR TO THE PM

Konowal was a simple man who felt no shame in accepting a menial job as caretaker at the House of Commons in 1933 after a military associate offered him the post.

“I mopped up overseas with a rifle,” he said. “Here I must mop up with a mop.”

One day Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King saw the colours of a Victoria Cross ribbon flashing on a caretaker washing floors. He sought him out, heard the story and reassigned him to a lifetime job in his personal office.

Konowal’s rehabilitation was proceeding on other fronts as well.

His family life had been in disarray ever since leaving his wife and daughter behind in Ukraine.

His wife was a victim of Stalinist purges, but he never realized his daughter survived and left descendants.

In Canada, he married a hard-working French-Canadian woman, Juliette Leduc-Auger, and adopted her two sons.

As the years passed, he was once again feted as a war hero and sought out by those in high office.

In 1956 he joined 300 other Victoria Cross winners at a formal tea party held by British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden in London and was a guest at a garden party hosted by Queen Elizabeth II.

His Victoria Cross, which was once stolen, is on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. Numerous plaques have been erected around the country by Ukrainian supporters like Luciuk.

“The guy was ultimately rehabilitated and brought back into the fold,” says Kempling. “Just because he won the Victoria Cross didn’t mean he was Superman.”

Konowal died in Ottawa at age 72 in 1959 and was buried with full military honours.

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